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Hey all, was wondering what you did last semester or during your law school career.

Also if you could list if you would change this habit next semester, or your personal pros/cons of your method.

Thanks a lot!

I am pathologically shy, so I studied alone. I was a bit envious of those with study groups, but I work quickly and efficiently, so I doubt a study group would have helped much.

I'll get back to you in a month when grades come out.

napolnic wrote:I'll get back to you in a month when grades come out.

Are you the fully solo or the 75solo/25group

I'm fully solo because I'm lazy and a night owl.

97% solo ... I would only meet with a select group to go over old practice exams before finals.

betasteve wrote:Solo study, group practice tests. Read at same table as group, but wasn't much discussion. Occasional questions back and forth, but not like read then discuss regularly. Enough separation that I'd call it solo. +1 to whoever above said we'll see about effectiveness when grades come out. Personally, I liked it though.

I think I want to do this in law school. I work very well solo, but I know it helps a lot talking about it / trying to explain it to other people, that is when you really know if you "get it".

I'm hoping to do mostly solo and maybe a meet up once a week or bi-weekly to go over information with whoever wants to meet up in the section.

betasteve wrote:Solo study, group practice tests. Read at same table as group, but wasn't much discussion. Occasional questions back and forth, but not like read then discuss regularly. Enough separation that I'd call it solo. +1 to whoever above said we'll see about effectiveness when grades come out. Personally, I liked it though.

This sounds very similar to what I did. I like company but don't really like group studying.

Mal wrote:

betasteve wrote:Solo study, group practice tests. Read at same table as group, but wasn't much discussion. Occasional questions back and forth, but not like read then discuss regularly. Enough separation that I'd call it solo. +1 to whoever above said we'll see about effectiveness when grades come out. Personally, I liked it though.

This sounds very similar to what I did. I like company but don't really like group studying.

Yeah, same. Plus, classmates get annoyed at me when I try to discuss the law because I like thinking about weird hypos.

Mostly solo. Even when I'm working in a group, I'm usually lost in my thoughts so I may as well not be present.

Inygma wrote:

napolnic wrote:I'll get back to you in a month when grades come out.

Are you the fully solo or the 75solo/25group

Almost entirely solo. I ventured into study groups a couple of times, but if I joined one permanently I would probably have to drastically change my habits. Depending on how grades come out, that change might be a necessity.

solo... met with friends to discuss practice tests. I tried a study group a couple of times and I thought it was unproductive and time-wasting.

I mainly studied in a group. The group consisted of three of us studying by ourselves, but together to share in the misery. So yea, we had occasional group work, but not much and it was mainly during finals.

All solo and the like two times I tried even a small group I was (not being arrogant here, just stating what happened) constantly explaining stuff to the other members all the while engaging in nice but unproductive personal talk and a lot of talk about planning but no action. My wife helped me memorize my outlines.

A'nold wrote:All solo and the like two times I tried even a small group I was (not being arrogant here, just stating what happened) constantly explaining stuff to the other members all the while engaging in nice but unproductive personal talk and a lot of talk about planning but no action. My wife helped me memorize my outlines.

explaining things to other people usually helps me learn them better.

I joined a study group early in the semester, but it proved to be a waste of time because most of my study group members went to meetings unprepared or they felt more like gossiping about who was fucking who, so I studied solo until it was time to do old exams before finals.

Mostly solo. Towards the end of the semester I went over practice exams with a couple people, but that's about it. I think for practice exams that don't have a model answer, having someone to discuss them with is almost a necessity, since there are undoubtedly issues you didn't see. I think groups tend to be productive right around exam time, since everyone has the sense to focus on studying rather than talking about who's hooking up, but before that study groups, in my experience, have basically just been gossip sessions.

Study groups make me want to shoot myself in the face. Law students get distracted and off-track enough on their own, no need to add to the problem.

With one notable exception, the only people that cared to study with me were people that had very little grasp of the material. Therefore, it usually consisted of me regurgitating the material and others asking for my notes. Not that I'm saying I'm anything special...

(if anyone actually knows who I am and asked to study with me, yep -- you were that one notable exception. Yes YOU!)

I did not meet with a single study group until I was studying for finals (exception for RIGHT before a midterm) I found it SUPER useful during that period ONLY because the people in my group were on the same page as me (almost totally up on readings, outlines DONE, willing to get up early and work hard all day on outline reviews/practice exams etc)

It was more about clearing up minor yet important points and keeping each other motivated and accountable than sitting around and shooting the sh*t, which is what I didn't want and what I saw other groups doing all semester...waste of time.

Mostly solo as well until getting together to discuss practice exam answers before finals.

Also, every thread like this contains posts where people say they are reserving judgment until grades come out. If you don't end up doing as well as you wanted to, it doesn't necessarily have anything to do with any particular study habit. And if you get good grades there may still be room for improvement (if you get straight A's, fine, don't change anything).

Jim_Stansel wrote: Also, every thread like this contains posts where people say they are reserving judgment until grades come out. If you don't end up doing as well as you wanted to, it doesn't necessarily have anything to do with any particular study habit. And if you get good grades there may still be room for improvement (if you get straight A's, fine, don't change anything).

Your post seems to say the following:
Didn't do so hot? Change your study habits.
Did as well as you wanted? Change your study habits.
Grades have nothing to do with your study habits? Change your study habits.

So you're saying that people should change their study habits regardless? Fine tune I'll agree with, but change entirely? Personally I like to have all my information about results before I declare a method a success or failure and in need of an overhaul strategy.

I went to one study group. I couldn't stand the wasted time. It started with warm-up small talk of about 10 minutes. Then we started to do some of the practice questions from a study aid. The endless debate about the answer was tiresome and confusing. When I would suggest that we look at the author's suggested answer and move on, I was met with disbelieving, open-mouth stares. Total accomplishment for the 2 hours....30 min of small talk....1 hour of debating the answer to 4 (simple) practice questions...30 minutes of banter about outline content. What little information I did glean was drown out by the uninformed and incorrect speculation offered for each question. Even if my grades are lower than I expect, I will not join a group. I will alter my solo study approach.

Bigger fan of the study g-chat... a whole bunch of people log in, and ask questions about things whilst studying independently (more of an intermitant thing than a constant chat), and if someone gets off track you can ignore them much easier than in person. I'm not a fan of big groups in person, but online seemed to work okay. Especially when no one wanted to go to the library and catch the flu from a hundred other stressed out, coughing/sneezing students.

napolnic wrote:

Jim_Stansel wrote: Also, every thread like this contains posts where people say they are reserving judgment until grades come out. If you don't end up doing as well as you wanted to, it doesn't necessarily have anything to do with any particular study habit. And if you get good grades there may still be room for improvement (if you get straight A's, fine, don't change anything).

Your post seems to say the following:
Didn't do so hot? Change your study habits.
Did as well as you wanted? Change your study habits.
Grades have nothing to do with your study habits? Change your study habits.

So you're saying that people should change their study habits regardless? Fine tune I'll agree with, but change entirely? Personally I like to have all my information about results before I declare a method a success or failure and in need of an overhaul strategy.

No, I'm not saying that at all. My point was if, for example, you get a C+ in a class, studying in a group versus by yourself may not have had much if anything to do with it i.e. you shouldn't necessarily drop that habit. Likewise, if you are a group studier happy to just get B+ across the board, and did, you might still have done as well or better studying alone. In other words, there are lots of factors that contribute to your grade, some within your control, some outside of it. So your grade, while it's obviously something you should consider, isn't going to tell you which of those factors, if different, would have produced a different outcome.